Project Overview

This analysis explores global measles trends using WHO surveillance data. It identifies high-risk countries, outbreak patterns, and under-reporting regions to aid data-driven public health decisions.


The goal of this analysis is to:

Summary of the Dataset

This dataset covers 194 countries across 6 global regions.

Measles case counts vary widely, with a median of 21 cases and a maximum of 213,291 reported in a single country-year.

Rubella case counts are much lower, with a median of 0 cases (meaning half of country reported no cases at all) and a maximum of 40,362.

This highlights both the variability of outbreaks and under-reporting in some regions.

Monthly Outbreak Fingerprints (Top Countries)

To understand seasonal patterns in measles outbreaks, we visualise the monthly distribution of cases across the 12 most affected countries.

This reveals outbreak “fingerprints” of how measles tends to spike during specific months in different regions.

Figure 1: Monthly Measles Outbreak Patterns in the Top 12 Countries

Figure 1: Monthly Measles Outbreak Patterns in the Top 12 Countries

Bubble Chart: Coverage vs. Incidence

To better understand how estimated vaccine coverage and measles incidence relate across countries, this bubble chart compares the two metrics.

This chart helps reveal high-risk countries those with large populations, low vaccine coverage, and high incidence, which should be prioritised for vaccination and surveillance efforts.

Figure 2: Measles Incidence vs. Estimated Vaccine Coverage (Bubble size = Population)

Scatter Plot: Reported Cases vs Incidence Rate

This plot compares total reported measles cases with average incidence rate per million, colored by WHO region.

This helps identify gaps in disease surveillance across countries.

Figure 3: Top-left = high incidence, low reporting | Top-right = high incidence & reporting

Figure 3: Top-left = high incidence, low reporting | Top-right = high incidence & reporting